The grading and sorting of fruit have become increasingly automated in recent years as labor costs have sharply escalated. Automatic sorting apparatus, for example, are now capable of inspecting each piece of fruit as it passes by optical sensing means which generates signals in response to color, blemishes, and the like. The signals are then employed to actuate fruit diverting mechanism if cull fruit are sensed, or color sensing signals and weight sensing signals may be simultaneously processed to yield a combined weight/color signal which is used to sort the fruit downstream of the sensors.
Typically, fruit is delivered from a storage bin onto a belt conveyor and then to a roller conveyor, called a singulator, which aligns the fruit into a single lane if one singulator is used, or into a plurality of single-file fruit lanes if a plurality of singulators is employed. The singulator transports the fruit to another singulator (typically, after passing over an idler roller or two) having rollers which are caused to be rapidly rotated to thereby rapidly spin the fruit thereon while being optically sensed in order for the sensor means to see more of the fruit's surface and hence provide more accurate sensing data.
Prior to optical scanning of the fruit, the fruit must be properly oriented. Proper orientation of the fruit, i.e., the fruit stem axes should be substantially parallel with the roller axes, is desirable if the fruit are to remain on the singulator without flipping off during their temporary rapid rotation while being scanned, and to reduce the possibility of the stem end of the fruit from being sensed as an ordinary blemish.
The present invention provides an improved roller readily usable with existing equipment. The rollers are capable of orienting fruit having diverse and disparate diameters, i.e., kiwi fruit, for example, having small diameters as well as grapefruit, having diameters approaching about 61/2 inches without any need to rearrange spacing between adjacent rollers due to large differences in fruit diameters.
The improved roller is provided with a "pocket" considerately deeper than those provided by existing rollers, resulting in deeper pockets between adjacent rollers. A spacing between adjacent rollers of only about 1/2 inch is needed, the rollers being measured at their outermost diameters, so long as the diameter of the fruit being oriented does not substantially exceed the diameters of grapefruit.
Proper orientation is particularly significant with fruits such as grapefruit, lemons, oranges and apples, for example. Oranges and grapefruit are normally aspherical; the fruit tends to flop over from side to side when handled on typical fruit orientation systems. With the improved rollers of the present invention, grapefruit and oranges, for example, are automatically oriented to "stand up" and rotate in wheel-like formation, i.e., with their stem axes substantially parallel to the axes of the rollers. As aforementioned, proper fruit orientation is essential if the fruit is to be subsequently rapidly rotated and scanned for analysis of their surfaces.